I am looking to get a new laptop prior to my deployment. I have been searching around and have a budget around 2.5k to play with. It needs to have some juice behind it because I intend on programming and doing some intensive graphics design.

I have always wanted an alienware computer and am considering dropping some cash on the MX-18. I have never programmed on a laptop so I wanted something that could handle some of the memory intensive operations required. Any advice on this topic would be greatly appreciated. It is going to be a long one so hopefully I can make the most of the underway time and keep myself sane.

so basically look into processing speed like i5-i7 processors and if you plan to run 64bit windows 7 you need atleast 4 gigs of memory. i believe that an alienware will have what you need/want covered.

I love the new Alienware series! They have been making a some awesome machines lately. I picked up a new Macbook pro 2.2 i7 with 8gb ddr3 1333 750gb hd and an ATI 6750 video card for about 2k. The machine is amazing. I've got it dual booting win 7 64bit and take advantage of both operating system's. You can get a hybrid 500gb solid state drive for about 130 bucks and the machine absolutely destroys.

I ended up going with an Mx17. I have it decked out pretty well too with all the bells and whistles that I was looking for. I am always hesitant to buy the top tier best since it gets replaced shortly after. I will post the specs for it later. Should be able to hold me over through the deployment now.